Saddle Valentini with zoos?? Plus more on setting up a 55 gallon tank

[dsmccain]

Hello, I would like to announce my return to saltwater. After I gave up on my 20 gallon project back in june, I went back to fancy Goldfish, they are annoying my wife and we want to go back to a marine environment. 55 gallons to be exact
Anywho, first things first, I am going to get into some easy corals, preferrably zoos, just hopefully buy a few and let them reproduce. However, I am interested in a Saddle Valentini, can they mesh well together?
Also, this time I am doing it right. In the mean time, I acquired an emperor 400, emperor 280. Those will be used as the filtration, along with the purchase of the AquaC Remora Pro. (thinking of doing a mini sump/refugium with a 10 gallon full of rubble).
For lighting, i was looking at the AquaticLife T5 HO light fixture, the man at the store said it should be fine for zoos.
One last thing, if you have a puffer, how can i keep things cleaned w/out a cleaning crew due to the fact that the puffer LOVES invertabrates?
For fun, here is my planned stocklist
Start by adding a trio of Blue Chromis, followed by a pair of firefish, then a purple firefish, after that pair(or maybe one to save room) percula, then the puffer. My wife likes the lionfish, i worry about that, but if we get one, it will need to be a dwarf, if they don't eat everything. Down the road, after its WELL established, i will get a scooter and mandarin

 

[novahobbies]

Hello there, and welcome back to the hobby! It's a hard hobby to get out of your system...once you get salt on your hands, you never really get it off.

I'm guessing that a number of people haven't touched this thread because, well, there's a few problems with your planned system. Nobody wants to be the bad guy and say, "Don't do that!!" but IMO it's better to be the bearer of bad news than the guy who says "Try it!" knowing full well the person is going to fail (you'll notice nobody's said THAT yet, either!). So here's my opinion - based on some small experience, but still just an opinion. Read on and take my advice, or ignore it and make fun of me....take your pick.
First of all, Good choice so far for the filtration. I got my feet wet in saltwater fish keeping with a 55g tank and an Emperor 400 filter. The 400 by itself is sufficient for a light to moderate bioload. Your decision to add an Emp. 280 and an AquaC HOB skimmer will definitely help keep your water well-filtered. If you do decide to add an overflow refugium in the future I think you'll be fine to remove the Emperor 280 as well. My advice would be to look into home-built 3-part sump/fuges and use a 20 gallon long or a standard 29 gallon tank. You can also throw your skimmer and heater down there as well and keep the top of the tank from looking too cluttered.
Your light will do very well for many corals, provided you're looking at the AquaticLife 4-bulb 48" fixture. Don't be fooled by the 2-bulb fixtures; you'll be upset in the end. IIRC the AquaticLife fixture has individual bulb reflectors, so you should be good to start with your softies, and certainly do LPS corals as well. I know of plenty of people who keep certain SPS corals in similar setups, but you'll need to do your homework on that before you jump in. Many zoas have different lighting requirements, so be sure to do some research on the ones you choose before putting them in the tank.
Now we come to the potential problem areas of your plan. You've definitely got a good bead on the hardware aspect of your tank, but your stocklist is......well, I'll be blunt. It's far too overstocked, especially if you add the "down the road" fish you discussed. Here's why:
You will quickly see that even as large as a 55g tank seems to your eye, it will fill up quickly with your very mobile finned pets. 55g is considered a standard starter tank for many in our hobby, and people tend to go down to the smaller nano tanks or up to the bigger tanks from this first step. As you have it planned, you are hoping to have 9 fish in the tank to start with (I assume you mean spread out of course) and your final goal is 11 to 12 fish. It's just too much of a bioload for that size tank, even though you are looking at small fish. Let's start with the Chromis. These are very active fish that usually inhabit the upper 2/3rds of a tank. There's nothing immediately wrong with this fact, except that the "upper 2/3rds" of a 21 inch tank will quickly get in to the territory of some of your other species. Crowding and stress factors will increase. Also remember that Chromis (Blue-green and especially the more dramatic blue reef variety) do eventually get somewhat large. I've seen some big buggers of blue-green chromis at the LFS! If I were you, I would stick with just 2 chromis. These fish are so typically peaceful that 2 will indeed "school," that is, they'll hang around each other most of the time.
Now let's look at the firefish. These guys have had a lot of press lately regarding their so-called "schooling" habits. The general consensus has been that 4 or more may school in LARGE tanks, but in smaller tanks or smaller numbers you'll be looking for trouble. Furthermore, while young firefish school, larger adults get more territorial, and may well begin to fight. As I have mentioned above, a 55 gallon tank is NOT a large tank. My strong suggestion is that you get one firefish only - say a red firefish, and no others. If you really want a similar fish and you're looking for some purple in the tank as well, consider a Royal Gramma. This fish has similar behaviors as the firefish, but will not fight with the red firefish unless it's too crowded. Royal Grammas and Firefish are known to be rock hiders, and will usually come out when they feel comfortable with their surroundings.
If you follow the suggestions I'm throwing at you, then your pair of Percula or Ocellaris clowns will be fine. Just don't go changing to Maroon, Cinnamon, or Tomato clowns....they will get much bigger and potentially nasty.
-cont-

 

[novahobbies]

Now we get to your puffer. I love Saddle Valentini puffers too, and I was recently doing some research on them for similar reasons. My guess is that you're really wanting this fish to be your showpiece fish for the tank, yes? Well, I have some good news: from what I've read and heard, you can certainly keep your Valentini with the corals you're looking at. You may even be able to keep some snails in the tank as well. Hermit crabs, Emerald Crabs, and ornamental shrimp will become snacks, however. Snails will too, but not at the rate the crabs and shrimp will disappear. If you're OK with replacing snails from time to time, you can just keep your CUC up to date in that fashion. If your algae starts to hit nuisance levels even with the snails, you could consider a Black Sailfin blenny to knock it down. If you do this, however, you *may* have to give up another fish to keep the population down. Just sayin'. In any case, I've heard of people keeping Valentinis with different soft corals with no ill effects, so you should be OK in that department. Puffers will knock crap around though, so you will need to glue down any coral you have. Also you might want to add the coral BEFORE the puffer, so it's more or less situated in the tank before he comes in. I don't know how puffers might be, but my Angel ignores all the coral that was in the tank before he was added. Anything that gets added to the tank now, however, is Angel Food.
Here we are with your "down the road" section of the stocklist. First, the dwarf lionfish. DON'T. Not in this tank. You have too many fish the dwarf can fit in his mouth, and he will probably be harassed by the puffer. Unfortunately this is a fish that just won't do in this aquarium. The good news, OTOH, is that a dwarf or Fumanchu lion will go well in a species only smaller tank....say, a 34g aquacube! If The Wife wants that fish, you could casually mention the purchase of another tank! She may even say yes! Finally, you mention a scooter AND a mandarin. Despite the "blenny" tag added to the scooter, it's really not - scooters and mandarins are the same genus, and have almost identical land and food requirements. I would say just get one or the other. While we're on the subject, if you choose a Mandarin, please get an ORA aquacultured mandarin. They are more expensive, but they are trained to eat prepared food so you have a much better chance of keeping him long-term. I would not put a wild-caught mandarin in a 55g tank unless there was a very large rubble and chaeto stuffed fuge involved, and even then I would think twice.
So there you have it - my overly verbose recommendations for your fish stocklist. Your final list would be 8 fish with the possible 9th Black Sailfin blenny. As it stands, you would have (and add them in this order, about 3-4 weeks apart...)
2 Blue Chromis
1 Red Firefish
1 Royal Gramma
2 Percula Clowns
1 Valentini Puffer
1 ORA Mandarin
...and if the algae is out of control....
1 Black Sailfin Blenny.
Like I said: you can take this advice or tell me to stuff it, your choice. Either way, good luck, and happy tankin'!

 

[qwerty97]

I AM GREAT (UNLIKE BANG GUY)